EMS committee continue to review options for service

MT. PLEASANT - The Henry County Emergency Medical Services Committee continued their discussion on whether to make the service a county entity on Monday, Jan. 6 at the Henry County Emergency Management building.

Despite an informal poll that showed most members were in favor of the transfer to the county at their previous meeting, doubt about whether enough other options had been thoroughly discussed or researched was brought up by committee member Tim Beatty and members of the Henry County's Board of Supervisors.

During the open forum section of the meeting, Kent Severson, a member of the board of trustees of the Henry County Health Center said 'coming to the county to take over EMS was a decision [the board] did not take lightly.”

'We've studied this for a long time … Our main thing, as far as I see it, is to keep the hospital going. Henry County needs a hospital and we've gone over the numbers. I think you all know why we need to do something with EMS and we're hoping for the outcome to be that the county will take it over and we prefer it to be this year. We'd like to get it into the budget this year if possible … We need to keep the hospital going, I guess you can read between the lines there, that's what the position is right now,” Severson said.

Following Severson, Henry County Board of Supervisor Gary See explained that his board 'had hoped more EMS options would have been presented to the committee and that the options on the table would have been evaluated at a greater degree.”

Beatty echoed similar sentiments, explaining that he felt the conversation was 'very one-sided.”

See expressed that it seemed as if options such as privatization of the service has not been discussed enough and explained that if the county took over the service, 'the county would not have money for 18 months.”

See explained that funds for the service would have to come from the county's general fund, whose levy is already a dollar above what is allowed. See warned that a potential 'protest could be put before the state” if the county attempted to further raise their levy and suggested instead the committee consider other options including for the hospital look at other tax levy options to make up costs incurred through providing the service.

Michelle Rossell, who serves as the president of the committee, and is also the chief operating office for Henry County Health Center (HCHC), explained that in either scenario, taxes would be raised for residents.

'Either way, if it goes to the county or remains with HCHC, there will be tax implications with it … but bottom line, by moving the service from one entity to the other, we automatically do nothing else differently, we automatically increase the hospital's reimbursement $670,000,” Rossell said.

The committee president also commented on the option of a private company.

'Jefferson County, right now, has a request for proposals out for a bid. They have received zero bids from private companies. They have one potential bid from a governmental entity … we're in a really good position because we have a really robust, a really solid service that we can work together and collaboratively to transition,” Rossell said.

As the committee reviewed at a potential budget for the service, Jacob Dodds, the current director of EMS at HCHC noted that 'no matter what option [the committee] looks at, it's going to cost the county money.”

The budget presented was if the county decided to modernize the system, according to Dodds. The director and committee secretary noted that in the past five years, the services has had an increase in call volume by 20 percent but have decreased staff. The proposed budget would be looking at running the service at full capacity rather than a bare-bones operation.

'The reason we've been able to maintain that positive margin in revenue is because we've maintained that status quo. That's ultimately a decision that the taxpayers are going to make, is what level of service that they want,” Dodds said.

The budget presented noted that total expenditures would be just over $2 million but the county could potentially be paying as little as $410,000 a year. Much of the cost would be made up in revenue generated by the service.

Speaking on a private service company as an option, Dodds said, 'if [the county] brings in a private company, they will ask for a subsidy.”

'Based on what we're seeing in Lee County, based on what we're seeing in Poweshiek County and Jefferson County, they're probably going to ask for at least $500,000 a year,” Dodds added.

Following requests for more information, Rossell noted that committee members would be provided information on current financial information and budget of the EMS service as it is currently run. Rossell also suggested inviting a Jefferson County Ambulance Committee member to the committee's next meeting to discuss the option of privatization, as well as a member from the Board of Supervisors from a neighboring county facing the same issue who have decided to make the service a county-run entity.